For this month of IRC operator focus, we are fortunate enough to manage to catch a very special lady oper, EmmaGrace.

EmmaGrace first started IRCing many years ago, too long she almost could not remember, but eventually reckoned it was around 10 years ago. She started off in Undernet, as it was the default network for the IRC client she was using back then.

It was a few years later, in late 1996, when Pacific Internet started promoting their server in Galaxynet, that EmmaGrace first heard of it. She was not on Galaxynet all the time though, as she still went to other networks. She left Galaxynet somewhere in 1998 due to some personal reasons.

Emmagrace came back in 2001. As she told Gazette, "I miss IRC I guess, it was nice being able to talk to people and make them smile. Esp in the chans I used to frequent, there are always people who are depressed or unhappy or having problems. Sometimes I'm able to talk them round things, make them feel better, let them know people still care (even if I'm basically a stranger)." Indeed a very caring person who treasure those around her a lot.

There was a time when someone kept flooding one of the channels she was a regular in. For the next week or two, she was busy teaching people how to ban the flooder's general host mask, and at the same time bugging opers for help in getting rid of him. She said, "After a while, I think they had enough and wanted me to solve my own problems! hehehehe" And that was one of the main reasons why she was invited to become an oper on Online*. In a short few months later, in December 2002, she was promoted to Global Oper, and the rest, as they say, is history.

EmmaGrace is currently a student pursuing an Arts degree. She also does some freelance work, like graphics design for brochures, posters, name cards, logos, web programming, databases, etc. Currently, she is trying her hand at marketing projects. Her work schedule can get very hectic, and she even had to spend time over at her client's place on many occasions. Such a hardworking lady! Ironically, her goals in life are actually very simple. As she told Gazette, she hopes to "become rich, or marry rich, then retire and spend my time reading/writing and getting involved in all my online communities like irc and others."

During her free time, EmmaGrace likes to jog and play racket games, and is into sea sports. She has her quiet side too; she does some writing whenever she can. She also loves reading, and would often find a quiet restaurant, order a drink and snacks, then take out a book to read.

EmmaGrace goes for an occasional movie with her friends, but to her, she "always felt the whole point of going out with frens is to communicate and such", and
prefers to go out with a small group of friends for a chatting session at a quiet cafe and tries to avoid the crowd.

As the interview comes to an end, EmmaGrace hopes that "everybody can become nicer to everybody." She said, "I've talked to some of the supposed "nastier" characters around and find that they are actually very nice people too. So if everybody can learn to be nice to one another, we wouldn't have so many disputes or spamming and everybody including opers can do more chatting instead of fighting :)"